The post talked about the treatment of government retirees at IJN.
Former minister Rafidah Aziz has decried alleged censorship after one of her Facebook posts which talked about the treatment of government retirees at the National Heart Institute (IJN) was “blocked” from Malaysian viewers.
According to her, she was alerted by a friend that the post was not visible on her Facebook page. This was later confirmed by Rafidah’s daughter, who said that the post was only viewable via a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
When contacted, she said the post was visible to herself, as the owner of the “Rafidah Malaysian Citizen” Facebook page but was not available for her followers.
“I feel disgusted at this disgusting turn of events.
“Now we can’t even air our valid views that affect the rakyat, and in this case, retirees. The government should never be allowed itself to be lulled by sweet praises, (and) glowing statistics with hardly any detailed qualifications,” she wrote on Facebook today.
In the initial “blocked post”, dated Feb 27, Rafidah had written about the “unfair” discharge of government pensioners from IJN, if they still needed specialized care which only the institute can provide.
She was responding to a letter published on CodeBlue, where an unnamed pensioner claimed that he was discharged after receiving extensive care at IJN, due to an alleged government directive that all civil servants and pensioners should be discharged to the Health Ministry cardiac centre nearest to their homes.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad later clarified that IJN was not turning away pensioners.
Instead, patients are allowed to be discharged once their condition is stable to other Health Ministry cardiac centres, to ensure more patients can be referred to IJN, he said.
Rafidah today also shared with Malaysiakini a screenshot of the flag-down message from Facebook on the initial message.
It read: “People in Malaysia won’t see your post, because we received a legal request from MCMC (Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission) to restrict access to your post for going against the local law.
“We complied with the request after conducting a legal and human rights assessment. Your content can still be seen by people in other locations.”
Malaysiakini has contacted MCMC, Facebook, and the office of Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil for comment.
Rafidah, who was the international trade and industry minister, said the blind censorship is similar to the tale “The Emperor has no clothes”.
“He was totally naked. No one was allowed to say a word, let alone criticised him as he paraded in public. Finally, a little child pointed out, (that) the emperor had no clothes.
“That is what blind censorship and curtailment of real, genuine, no agenda voices will result in,” she lamented, adding that she spoke for the sake of the society and the beloved nation without any agenda.
Rafidah said she had reached out to Fahmi for an explanation.
When contacted, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman also questioned why the post was blocked from Malaysians’ viewing.
“What (is the purpose) for the post to be seen by those outside the country when it is a criticism about a national issue?” he said.
He also said he had to use VPN to read Rafidah’s post. – Malaysiakini